{"id":35402,"date":"2022-08-25T17:36:14","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T21:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=35402"},"modified":"2022-08-25T17:36:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T21:36:14","slug":"genesee-county-you-may-have-the-skills-to-be-a-volunteer-at-the-oakfield-fire-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/08\/25\/genesee-county-you-may-have-the-skills-to-be-a-volunteer-at-the-oakfield-fire-department\/","title":{"rendered":"GENESEE COUNTY\/You may have the skills to be a volunteer at the Oakfield Fire Department"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department is looking for people from all walks of life to become new members at their department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past Monday, the department officially opened their new Member Clubhouse for possible new recruits to check out and hang out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re trying to expand out into the community and trying to get people interested in our department and other ways to help,” says Joshua Finn, Captain and President or the Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the department, located at 20 Albert street, has 35 active members with a core group of about 20 volunteers who protect the 5,000 citizens of the village and town of Oakfield. The department is looking for people with different backgrounds to assist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We will find a place for everybody,” says Fire Chief Sean Downing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assistance is needed in all areas, from social media posting, fundraising, firefighter and EMS, to serving on the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Most people think there is no place for them in the fire service, but there is. There are administrative duties, reports need to be filed at a fire scene or accident scene, there is accountability. People don’t have to actively get involved in performing extrication or care. They can keep track of who is on scene or assist as fire police.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department has been lucky this past year as they recently had 3-4 younger members under the age of 20 join. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Riley D’Alba (right) with her dad Joel on Monday evening<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Riley D’Alba, 23, joined the department last year as an EMT, putting in 120 hours of training over a six-month period. Now, her father Joel is thinking of joining. He is a business owner and has more time on his hands in the winter months as he operates Albion Pool Company and lives in Oakfield. Joel would like to be a driver and operate the pump. Chief Downing is looking into a creative way for him to complete his training right at the department using their in-house NYS Fire Instructor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I would love to join, I just don’t have the time to sit through all of these hours of training with my business. Over the winter, when my business is slow, I certainly would take whatever courses I could then, says Joel. I think that’s why most people don’t volunteer. The amount of training you have to have, and they don’t have the time to do that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Submitted photos)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department recruits when they can, while at schools, while in neighborhoods and while creating the annual Christmas Fire truck Parade each year, which is a highlight in the community along with holiday efforts by Oakfield Betterment Committe. Finn says recruitment goes in spurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Financially, we are hurting,” says Finn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are times we look at each other and say, dear lord what are we going to do. We have enough to get by, but as the years go by this building is not getting any younger and we don’t have a plan right now. Thats one of the things we’ve been talking about doing. We are looking for people to help us down the road as far as what we can do. We need to start planning for the future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some residents have been reaching out, Ed Spence a retired City of Batavia firefighter volunteered to assist as the Department Chaplain. “He’s the type of guy who reaches out after a difficult call or disagreements, it’s those little things that make us successful,” says Finn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The issues the Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department face are not unique. The availability of volunteers during the daytime working hours, 8am-5p.m., are usually very low as almost everyone is working their full-time job. Some volunteers also run businesses outside of their regular working hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s kind of the same throughout the county, you just don’t know who you are going to get and what type of response. Everybody is struggling to get people during the day, you might get two people and other times you get 13 people that show up. Its feast or famine,” says Downing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Open House on Monday evening for new members<\/em><\/strong> at the new Member Clubhouse <\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Before photos of the Member Clubhouse at the Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the updating of the Member Clubhouse, the department hopes to install video gaming systems so younger members and junior members can hang out more. Oakfield Volunteer Firefighter Andrew Pilc and his family have spent the last 6 months updating the space with assistance from many in the community. The project was estimated at about $12,000. The Oakfield Betterment Committee was able to secure a grant in the amount of $5,800 through the Home Depot Foundation for the department as a non-profit sponsor. (List of businesses and organizations that assisted below)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anyone is interested in checking out any fire department across Genesee County, they are almost always open on Monday evenings about 6:30p.m. for meetings and trainings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finn says the department’s mission is to provide fire protection to the citizens of Oakfield, but there is so much more that goes on behind the scenes where people can assist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Come check us out, everybody in the community knows somebody that’s a member, ask them what they need.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to join below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Ready Genesee<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mike Harding of Harding Furniture & Flooring donates picture for the new Member Clubhouse-Pictured left to right-Chief Sean Downing, Jamie Lindsley, President\/Oakfield Betterment Committee, Joel D’Alba, owner of Albion Pool Co., Tonisha and Andrew Pilc,\u00a0Mike Harding, Harding Furniture & Flooring, and Joshua Finn, Captain\/President Board of Directors<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Businesses\/Organizations who assisted with the new member clubhouse<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy Yasses Realty Group<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andre Heating and Cooling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harding’s Furniture &Flooring<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakfield Betterment Committee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home Depot Foundation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albion Pool Company<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pudgie’s Lawn & Garden<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domoy Farms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lamb Farms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rotork<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wortzman Furniture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Country Line Electric<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department is looking for people from all walks of life to become new members at their department. This past Monday, the department officially opened their new Member Clubhouse for possible new recruits to check out and hang out. “We’re trying to expand out into the community \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[584],"tags":[2918],"class_list":["post-35402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oakfield-alabama","tag-oakfield-fire-department"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eTP4-9d0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30753,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/genesee-county-oakfield-fire-department-honors-robert-buck-hilchey-after-50-years-of-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":35402,"position":0},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Oakfield Fire Department honors Robert “Buck” Hilchey after 50 years of service","author":"aka","date":"February 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oakfield Fire Department honored Robert \"Buck\" Hilchey for 50 years of service to the Oakfield Volunteer Fire Department on Monday evening. Hilchey joined the department in 1971 and served with many of his family members. 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That\u2019s when things started to get interesting. Chavez called her mom, Dawn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oakfield"","block_context":{"text":"Oakfield","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/oakfield\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/baby-4.jpg?fit=800%2C322&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/baby-4.jpg?fit=800%2C322&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/baby-4.jpg?fit=800%2C322&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/baby-4.jpg?fit=800%2C322&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53490,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2024\/05\/27\/genesee-county-the-alabama-fire-department-receives-a-donated-chest-compression-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":35402,"position":2},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/The Alabama Fire Department receives a donated Chest Compression System","author":"aka","date":"May 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Woodward Family of Oakfield donated the equipment in memory of their Husband and Father, Michael Woodward Press release The Town of Alabama Volunteer Fire Department announced the arrival of a donated LUCAS Chest Compression System Product The Woodward Family of Oakfield donated the equipment in memory of their Husband\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alabama"","block_context":{"text":"Alabama","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/alabama\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/436768485_864267222398121_7903578782832714776_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33224,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/06\/09\/genesee-county-oakfield-fire-department-receives-water-donation\/","url_meta":{"origin":35402,"position":3},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Oakfield Fire Department receives water donation","author":"aka","date":"June 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"(Provided photo) (Provided information) The Oakfield Fire Department received a donation of two pallets of drinking water on Wednesday from Anheuser Busch. Captain\/President Joshua Finn says he applied to receive the water months ago after spotting a link in a Facebook group. \"I actually forgot I did it until I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oakfield"","block_context":{"text":"Oakfield","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/oakfield\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/282459156_1869072516630047_8595310875268066348_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28187,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2021\/09\/27\/genesee-county-residents-in-the-town-of-oakfield-will-no-longer-have-fire-protection-as-of-november-30th\/","url_meta":{"origin":35402,"position":4},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Residents in the Town of Oakfield will no longer have fire protection as of November 30th","author":"aka","date":"September 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Village of Oakfield will cease providing Fire Protection to the Town of Oakfield effective November 30, 2021, according to Village Mayor David Boyle. The Village will not allow Oakfield Fire trucks to respond to any calls in the Town. 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